It was glorious sleeping in a real bed. I know I’ll appreciate our nights in town. However, we stayed up too late. Mostly because I was trying to type up all my journal entries. Around 11p I went to bed. We slept until 8a. Well, I did. Ben got up for about an hour and then crashed again. It’s fun to see that our bodies are starting to get into the trail rhythm – ready for bed at 8p, ready to wake up at 7a.
We went down and pigged out on the contential breakfast. It was a really nice one. The first continental breakfast that I’ve seen that offers gluten free and dairy alternative options. I don’t need either, but thought it was awesome they take care of those guests with special dietary needs.
Princess was down there, along with her husband. They had picked up a carton of epsom salt for me and another for Chelsea. She also gave us some special blister care first aid items and taught us how to use them. It was so kind. That sort of generous spirit and gesture totally embodies the culture of the trail. Most people want to help you and educate you. They care if you meet your goals and will do their best to help you do that. It’s not at all an “every man for himself” sort of environment. Rather, it’s quite community oriented actually. It’s surprised me actually.
Chelsea ended up having to get a ride into another town to be seen. The clinic here couldn’t take walk-in’s for another month. I expect she’ll be off for at least a week.
After breakfast we came back to the room and worked on catching up on tech stuff: editing photos, prepping blog posts, etc. Then Ben ran out to do errands. We went through and sent some items home, around 5lbs worth. That should bring his pack weight down. Mine will go back up with the food resupply we did this afternoon. It’s our first time making dinners with food other than backpacker dehydrated meals. We bought some Knorr pasta sides and ramen for dinner. I picked up some soup/dehydrated veggie packets to try to spice things up. We’ll see how this goes. I’m not sure we’ll enjoy the next few days worth of dinners, but we have to experiment. Ben’s putting a lot of trust in me to do something delicious. To be honest, I kind of like the challenge of field meal prep with minimal items. Maybe I’ll share some recipes when, or if, I get it mastered.
After our grocery run we went to Daniel’s, an all-you-can-eat buffet in town. Hikers love it because it’s only $9. I think it would have been better for us later in the trail. But it did the job, we are officially all carbohydrated up for starting back up tomorrow.
Now Ben is packing things getting us ready. Our shuttle (the guy who handed us his car at the sign) will arrive at 8a. It’s $10 each, a sum I’m glad to pay rather than try to hitch.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a 2 difficult climbs. I expect several switchbacks, points where the trail keeps snaking up the mountain parallel to each other, just a little bit higher than the last so the hike isn’t so steep. Fun times.
Actually, I am excited. It feels like getting ready for a game day or preparing my gear for a wedding. It’s the anticipation and rush before the battle. This is my battle; the mountains and myself.
Well… Like it or not, we are headed back out!
-blisters